Watchdog Group Sues President in Health Care Lawsuit

Operating on behalf of a small computer business owner in Arizona, GOP members of Arizona's congressional delegation and 29 Republican state lawmakers, a government watchdog group called The Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit against President Brack Obama, among others, calling the federal health care law "the most overbearing and intrusive way possible to try to address America's rising health care costs," said Clint Bolick, litigation director for the institute.

Source: Source: Business Week | Published on August 13, 2010

Bolick said the lawsuit is intended to bring down one of the most sweeping invasions of individual liberty and state sovereignty. The health care law, passed earlier this year, requires most Americans to carry health insurance through an employer, the government or by buying their own insurance.

"The federal health care bill is a sledgehammer to solve a problem that needs the precision of a scalpel. This is the most overbearing and intrusive way possible to try to address America's rising health care costs," Bolick said.

Nick Coons, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said as a small business owner, he pays for all of his medical care out of his own pocket and he wants to continue making his own health care decisions.

"The government is making me spend money on something that I don't want," Coons said.

The Goldwater Institute maintains that under the federal health care bill, Coons will face significant fines from the Internal Revenue Service if he doesn't buy a health insurance plan that has been approved by the government by 2014. If Coons purchases insurance, the Goldwater Institute says he will have limits on doctors and medical services and will have to divulge intimate personal information in violation of his right to privacy.